Page 10 of Rarely Pure and Never Simple
"Variants are not animals. We share your genes. We share blood and family with you. You start to collar us, to herd us into camps, and they'll come for you next! Any family could have variants! Your own next child could be one! Protect your children! Protect your future! None of us are free until we are all free!"
With that, he leaped from the stage and ran off before the city security forces could surround the square. For years Blaze had managed not to see that face, that bright halo of blond hair. He turned off newscasts when they mentioned McKenzie. Blocked the word on his personal info stream. Now here he was, smacking Blaze in the face. He glanced sideways at his passenger, annoyed that Hazelwood had the start of a smile.
The snarl came from deep in his chest. "You think that's funny?"
"Hmm. Maybe not so much funny as intriguing. Why does he make you so angry?"
"He's a moron."
Hazelwood tapped on the screen, changing to a program about penguins. "I've heard you mutter that about a lot of people. I understand not liking people, but just dismissing them as morons is… Sorry, but it's a little lazy, don't you think?"
The flare of anger died in Blaze when Hazelwood squeezed his eyes shut on a shiver.Something's triggering flashes. What the hell is he trying so hard to hide from?
"He's making things harder for all of us," Blaze said after a snort.
"He's apparently fighting for variant rights."
"You don't do it that way!" Blaze waved a hand at the penguins where McKenzie had been and tried to stop shouting. And ofcourseHazelwood was defending the idiot, just like peoplealwayshad. "The government's classified him as a terrorist. People like Lawson hold him up as proof of the 'variant threat.' Those stunts he pulls—"
Hazelwood slid a sidelong look at him. "At least aren't self-serving. Seemed harmless enough."
"They're not. Some kid is gonna get hurt someday, trampled by the crowd, hit by falling debris, and then we're all suddenly monsters."
Hazelwood sighed. "They already think that."
The death of that fledgling smile annoyed Blaze more than anything in their previous conversation, and he couldn't even say why. Ridiculous. He just cared if he was able to do his damn job. He crossed his arms and sat back, watching the stupid penguins.
The silence lasted an entire minute. "How did your mother die?"
"I'm going to pretend you didn't just ask that."
Hazelwood shifted lower in his seat, hands buried in his coat pockets. "My mother was killed in a drive-by when I was two."
Oh. Damn. "That sucks."
"I don't remember it."
"Probably good."
Blaze pulled a toothpick out of his shirt pocket to chew on. He shot a glance at Hazelwood, who was staring out the window instead of at the penguin show he'd chosen. The man hadn't asked the question as an insult or out of morbid curiosity. He simply asked, and it was only fair to give him a truth for a truth.
"I don't remember, either. I know they say I murdered my mom. I didn't. But I did kill her when I was born. Happens with sparkers sometimes if the gift shows up at birth. Guess babies all freak out when they're born, but most of them don't burn the people around them. Mom died from the burns."
Hazelwood nodded, apparently accepting the information as just another fact. But instead of the usual platitudes or expressions of fake sympathy, he asked an unexpected question. "Do you ever wish… that you'd never been born?"
Oh, hell, no. Please don't tell me you have suicidal tendencies on top of everything else."All kids do at some point, right? I guess I probably did." Blaze searched frantically for the perfect thing to say. The slide into gloom might be the trigger for worse things. Though Hazelwood had yet to show acheerfulside. "But I figure I was put here for a reason."
"Ah. What?"
Blaze flashed a cocky smile. "I'm here to annoy the shit out of people."
The corners of Hazelwood's eyes crinkled, and there was that spare hint of a laugh again.Good. Good. Something's thrown him off balance, but I think he'll be okay. I hope.
He had the feeling that Dr. Parma would have his head if he didn't get this one back safe.
A haze obscuredthe mountains as they rolled off the zipway, and Blaze took back control of the car. Damien's senses seemed similarly obscured, as if someone had drawn a dirty film over his gift. In most cases, this was simply because he hadn't found a beginning, a place to pick up the trail yet, but this time he wondered if it was more.
The kids. So many of them were close to the same age he had been when Dr. Parma found him. The memory sneak attacks left him distracted and shaken. Maybe the sheer scope of this job scared him, too. Finding one person wasn't hard. Finding forty? What if he couldn't? What if they were all dead already or worse?
